Kathy's Café
Kathy's is the local café on Bridge Street, currently owned by Ian Beale. The café has had various different owners in the past, however, the current owner, Ian, is the longest serving owner. In Walford there is another Café on Victoria Road. Kathy's Cafe has a Food Hygiene Rating of 5. Storylines Ali and Sue Osman were the original owners of the cafe. It was also home to their taxi firm, Ozcabs. Ali took a hands off approach to running the Cafe and left most of the day to day work in the hands of Sue. When Sue and Ali's son, Hassan, died in 1985, money troubles occurred at the Cafe due to Ali and Sue's grieving. Kathy Beale stepped in to manage the Cafe so that Sue could recover. Sue eventually left Walford and Ali took control of the Cafe. In 1989, Ali's gambling addiction grew, and so he used the Cafés accounts to play poker with. After losing most of the Cafe's takings he found himself in debt with some loan sharks and he was forced to sell the Cafe to Ian Beale. Ian wanted the Cafe both to expand his business empire, and because his mother had always wanted to own the cafe. Ian changed the name to "Kathy's Cafe" and he and his new wife Cindy began to run it. After Ian and Cindy's marriage fell apart Ian had a car crash and sold the Cafe to his mother Kathy. Kathy was delighted when she was made owner of the Cafe because she had wanted it for years. She stayed in control of the Cafe until 1995, when she fell pregnant with Phil Mitchell's baby. Realising that she couldn't run the Cafe and be a housewife, Kathy decided to put the Cafe up for sale. In 1995, Ian and Cindy where reunited and Ian bought back his shares of The Cafe from Kathy following the birth of Kathy's second son. Ben Mitchell. Ian stayed in control of the cafe for the following five years and employed his latest fiancee, Melanie Healy as a waitress. Mel didn't love Ian and left him heartbroken on the night of their wedding. When Ian grassed up rival Phil Mitchell and his girlfriend to the market inspector, Phil took revenge by informing the tax officers about Ian's tax avoidance. Ian was left in a huge amount of debt and desperately tried to save the Cafe and his other businesses from bankruptcy. His attempts were dashed and he lost the Cafe. Following the downfall of the Beale empire. The Cafe was closed down for a couple of months, and reopened by the Mitchell family. Having a strong hatred for Ian and the Beale family, Phil Mitchell took great pleasure of giving the Cafe a full makeover. erasing any memory of his rival Ian Beale from the place. Ian tried to rebuild his business empire and desperately wanted to gain back control of the Cafe. Phil, realising how much the Cafe means to Ian enjoyed watching Ian suffer. In order to infuriate Ian further, Phil hired Ian's ex-wife Laura Beale as manager. In 2003, when Phil was framed for armed robbery by Den Watts, Phil signed the Cafe over to his younger and naive sister Sam. Having built a new empire for himself, Ian took advantage of Sam's vulnerability and persuaded her to sell him the Cafe. She accepted his offer and he once again took back control over the Cafe. Ian employed his new love interest, Jane Collins as manager. Over the next five years. Jane and Ian's two eldest children, Peter and Lucy, would do most of the work around the Cafe whilst Ian was elsewhere making business deals. In 2009, Nick Cotton took Heather Trott, Lucy Beale, Lauren, Abi and Bradley Branning hostage because he had failed in his attempt to poison his mother Dot. Nick failed to notice that the gas cooker was on fire. Everyone managed to escape but Bradley went back into the burning Cafe to save Nick. Nick escaped and Bradley was left trapped inside as the Cafe exploded. Bradley also survived. Later that year, the Cafe was reopened with a new makeover. designed by Ian's brother-in-law Christian. In 2011, Ian and Jane's marriage fell apart and they went into battle for the Beale empire. Ian was desperate to protect his businesses, especially the Cafe as it was part of his history. Phil Mitchell joined forces with Jane in order to ruin him just like he did before. Phil managed to outsmart Ian, and Jane won the Cafe in the divorce battle, leaving Ian devastated. However, Jane left Walford soon after gaining ownership of the Cafe. Jane sold the Cafe to Phil, who gave it to Shirley as a present. They changed the name to "Shirley's Cafe". Ian Beale bought the cafe back off Phil in April 2012, naming it Mandy's after his fiancee at the time, Mandy Salter. After Mandy broke up with him, Ian had a nervous breakdown and left Walford. During this time, Lucy was left to look after all the businesses herself. Lucy renamed the cafe Cindy's, after her mother. After Ian was found and returned to the square, Lucy would only allow him to return to the house if he signed over all his businesses to her. Later, the cafe returned to Ian's ownership. In November 2016 Kathy starts working at the cafe again and in December 2016 Ian renamed the cafe back to Kathy's. In 2017 Ian sold the cafe to property development company Weyland and Co as he wanted to focus on the expansion of his restaurant Beale's. Unbeknownst to Ian, Weyland and Co was owned by James Willmott-Brown, who raped Kathy over 20 years ago. After James's death, his daughter Fi signs the cafe over to Kathy to apologise for believing her father's obvious lies. Previous Names Staff Owners Current Employees Former Employees Gallery Exterior Al's_Cafe_Drawing.jpg|Al's Cafe Drawing Cafe First Appearance (19 February 1985).jpg|Cafe first appearance (1985) Al's Cafe.jpg|Al's Cafe (1985) Bridge_Street_Cafe_(11_August_1987).jpg|Cafe (1987) Osman's Cafe.png|Cafe Exterior (1988) Old Cafe.jpg |New Cafe Sign (1988) Bridge Street Café (13 July 1998).jpg|Bridge Street Café (13 July 1998) Bridge Street Café Bistro (1999).jpg|Bridge Street Café Bistro (1999) Bridge_St._Cafe_-_Bistro.jpg|Bridge Street Cafe Bistro. Cafe 2005.jpg|Cafe exterior (2005) Cafe.jpg|Kathy's Cafe The Cafe.jpg|Kathy's Cafe. Kathy's Blackboard.jpg|Kathy's Blackboard. eastenders-cafe-gas-explosion-replaced-vegan-hipster-friendly-cafe.jpg|Cafe Gas Explosion- Replaced Vegan Hipster Friendly Cafe (2009) Shirley's_Cafe_Sign_(2011).jpg|Shirley's Cafe Sign (2011) Shirley's_Cafe_(2011).jpg|Shirley's Cafe (2011) EE Cover Promo.png|Bridge Street Café 2015 Interior Bridge_Street_Cafe_(1985).jpg|Bridge Street Cafe (1985) Old Cafe 2.jpg |Cafe Interior in the 80's Ozcabs.jpg|Ali running Ozcabs from Cafe Osman's Cafe Interior.png|Cafe Interior in 1988 Osman's Cafe Interior 2.png|Cafe Interior in 1988 Old Cafe 3.jpg Old Cafe 4.jpg Old Cafe 5.jpg Cafe 1991.jpg|Cafe (1991) Cafe 1992 .2.jpg|Cafe (1991) Laura, Pat and Kathy in Cafe.jpg|Laura, Pat and Kathy in Cafe Cafe Inside 2005.jpg|Cafe Interior (2005) Kathy's_Cafe_table_poster.jpg|Kathy's Cafe table poster (2010) Bridge St. Cafe Inside.jpg|Bridge Street Cafe Inside. Bridge St. Cafe Counter.jpg|Bridge Street Cafe counter. Bridge St. Cafe Kitchen.jpg|Bridge Street Cafe kitchen. Kathy's Blackboard.jpg|Kathy's Blackboard. Cafe inside.jpg|Inside the cafe Cindy's.jpg|Cindy's Sign 2014 Cindy's Inside 2014.jpg|Cindy's Interior 2014 InsideTheCafe.png|Gareth Malone and Nitin Ganatra in the cafe. CafeInterior .png|Gareth Malone and Nitin Ganatra in the cafe. Miscellaneous Al's Cafe Price List (25 April 1985).jpg|Al's Cafe Price List (25 April 1985) Cafe Specials (2013).jpg|Cafe Specials (2013) Cafe Price List 2014.jpg|Price List ( August 2014) Marathon Poster in Cafe.jpg|Marathon Poster in Cafe CindysCafePriceMenu2015.png|Bridge Street Café's Price Menu, January 2015. Kathy's Cafe Delivery Poster (16 March 2017).jpg|Kathy's Cafe Delivery Poster (16 March 2017) Fayre on the Square Poster (6 April 2017).jpg|Fayre on the Square Poster (6 April 2017) Bridge Street Cafe Eviction Notice (5 December 2017).jpg|Bridge Street Cafe Eviction Notice (5 December 2017) Kathy's Café Prices (26 November 2018).jpg|Kathy's Café Prices (26 November 2018) Keeday Arcade Machine Kathy's Café (30 April 2019).jpg|Keeday Arcade Machine Kathy's Café (30 April 2019) Category:Community Buildings Category:Businesses Category:Facilities in Walford